Can Sixers get Dario Saric back to 'Super Dario' form?

Can Sixers get Dario Saric back to 'Super Dario' form?

Dario Saric was coming off a career year entering this season. One in which he increased his averages in nearly every statistical category from his rookie season and was a key cog in unlocking one of the best five-man units in the entire NBA.

Saric’s growth as a player last season left many people around the Philadelphia 76ers organization very optimistic about his future outlook, so much so that they exercised his fourth-year team option without hesitation. The thing that made Saric such a good fit with the team last season was his versatility on the offensive end at being able to play down low on the block while also having the ability to knock down shots from the outside.

In the nine games the Sixers have played this season, Saric has struggled mightily from beyond the arc. Super Dario is currently shooting 24 percent on 5.6 three-point attempts per game. Saric acknowledges his struggles early in the season and partly attributes them to playing for his home country of Croatia’s national team this summer.

“It means so much to me (to play for Croatia) but you know it’s going through your mind maybe if you skip some summer you will be a better player. Maybe you have more time to spend in the States to work on your game. Absolutely, I think I would be a better player if I didn’t play [the last] five, six years on the international team every night. I think I would be a better player but at the end of the day, everything is about winning and you want to win with your national team, too …

It’s just so hard to talk about it. It really matters for me. This way I choose is maybe wrong, maybe right, but I really enjoy being there and playing with those guys and to represent my country.”

Saric knows his body better than anyone, and if he says that he would have been better served to skip out on international play this summer than there must be some merit to it. But even beyond that, there are more tangible reasons as to why Saric is struggling this season.

The floor spacing within the Sixers offense is vastly different than it was last season when JJ Redick was in the starting lineup and drawing defenders away from the basket with his shooting. Philadelphia has replaced Redick with Markelle Fultz in the starting lineup and the second-year guard on the court with Simmons (two non-shooters), it constricts the floor and does not leave enough space for Saric to move freely.

When you take a closer look at Saric’s numbers when he shares the court with Markelle Fultz versus the numbers when he’s not on the court with Fultz, it becomes very apparent that the Sixers have a major problem on their hands.

Saric has a net rating of -11.9 when he shares the court with Fultz and 6.5 when Fultz isn’t playing. The simple solution would be to re-insert Redick into the starting lineup for either Fultz or Saric while staggering the two players’ minutes.

All-Star Joel Embiid has some poignant advice for Saric after the Sixers’ 122-113 win over the Los Angeles Clippers and that is to keep shooting because he knows that the team will need him in order to be successful this season:

“Just keep shooting. When we are all struggling, I had a bad third quarter and my teammates just kept going to me and saying keep shooting. At the end of the day, struggling but we know that right now we are playing together and he had the same start last year so I’m not too worried about that but he just needs to keep shooting the ball. When you are wide open you have to shoot the ball.” Embiid told reporters.

Embiid is right to implore Saric to keep shooting because he’s a far better shooter than his current statistics suggest. In turn, his numbers will eventually rise to the mean and be much closer to the 39.3 percent shooter from deep he was last season.

Saric obviously has to play better, but head coach Brett Brown can do both himself and the team a great service by changing up his rotations to ensure that Saric and Fultz play less together. The only thing that Saric can do is to continue honing his craft and hope that his “Super Dario” powers return.